Auld Lang Syne
by Riku-Rocks
Summary: PostKHII. Sora and Riku take a moment to think about each other on their first New Years apart. This technically follows my Christmas story, My Favourite Things, but it should stand alone as well. Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts.


_Auld Lang Syne _

"Well, it's certainly been an interesting year," said Kairi as she, Selphie, Penelo, Sora, Tidus, and Wakka sat around a campfire on the beach of their play island.

"Yeah, I can't believe we forgot about Sora for like half of it," replied Tidus.

"Actually, we forgot about Sora the summer of last year," stated Selphie.

"So? We still couldn't remember him for half of this year," responded the blonde boy. "Does it matter when exactly we forgot about him?"

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I feel bad about it either way, ya," commented Wakka.

"Yeah, me too," agreed Penelo.

"At least you and me started remembering him first," stated Kairi.

"Not by _that _long," said Selphie.

"They still remembered first," commented Tidus. He grinned at the two girls, who were sitting on either side of the brunette under discussion. "I guess they're just better friends than we are."

"Riku still beat both of us," said Kairi. "He never forgot him to begin with."

"Yeah, but it's not as if we all aren't used to be outdone by Riku," stated Penelo.

"Good point," conceded the auburn-haired girl with a grin.

"And we won the championship this year," added Wakka with a large grin.

"Of course," replied Tidus with a smirk. "Now that you're captain and Penelo and I aren't benched for half the games, did you really think there was any way we wouldn't win?"

"Well now we know why Tidus plays so well," commented Kairi. "All that hot air must make him really buoyant."

The blonde boy just continued smirking as the others laughed. Both Kairi and Penelo stopped and looked at Sora when they realised he had not joined them. The spiky-haired boy was looking up at the stars.

"Hey, you still with us?" asked Penelo as she slowly waved a hand in front of Sora's upturned face.

"Huh? Oh, yeah…Sorry about that," Sora rubbed the back of his neck and offered his girlfriend a lopsided grin. "I sort of spaced there, didn't I?"

"Yep," Penelo said lightly with a smile.

"You even missed us talking about you and Riku," added Kairi, still grinning as well.

"Why were you talking about me and Riku?" questioned the spiky-haired boy as looked around at his friends.

"We were saying that we feel bad about forgetting you for most of this year and that Riku wins the best friend of the year award, but that's really no surprise. Oh, and Tidus' swollen head is actually filled with hot air, which is why they won the Blitz ball championship this year," Selphie summarised easily.

"Oh," cerulean eyes blinked before Sora offered his friends an easy smile. "You guys shouldn't worry about that. It's not like you just forgot about me…your memories were actually tampered with through your hearts."

The others stared at the Keybearer for a moment.

"Okay, I still haven't got used to these…_Keyblader _moments," commented Tidus.

"I doubt we ever will," stated Kairi, "But it's not like everything Sora said made sense before either…"

"Hey!" The named boy turned to his friend. "It's not like I walk around talking gibberish all the time…and what are you guys whispering about?" asked the spiky-haired teen as he turned to Wakka, Tidus, and Selphie, who were speaking quietly to each other and grinning.

"We were just wondering what you were thinking about when you spaced out there for a moment," explained Selphie.

Penelo arched an eyebrow, "What were you thinking about?"

"Riku," answered the cerulean-eyed boy simply.

"Aw man," Tidus whined as Wakka chuckled and both boys handed Selphie five Munny.

Kairi giggled and shook her head at the three across the fire before returning her attention to Sora. "Are you worried about him?"

"No," answered the spiky-haired boy. "It's just the first time that I can remember not being with him on New Years since I was a little kid. He said he was even with me for the last one, when I was sleeping."

Kairi looked at her friend sympathetically. Penelo rested her hand on top of Sora's and intertwined their fingers. The cerulean-eyed boy offered the auburn-haired girl a smile and then kissed the blonde girl gently. "I'm actually not that sad. It's just…weird, you know?"

"Yeah, we know," replied Kairi with a smile. "I wonder what he's going right now…Selphie, stop thinking."

"Oh come one," said the green-eyed girl indignantly. "I _do_ think about other things, you know…although now that you bring it up-"

"Selphie," interrupted Tidus. "Wakka, Sora, and I don't want to hear you fantasising about Riku and his middle-aged boyfriend."

"Leon's only ten years older than Riku, Tidus," commented Sora. "That's pretty far from middle aged."

"I know, but it's fun to make that little vein twitch over Wakka's temple when I bring up the age difference," the blonde boy responded with a smirk as we watched his best friend, whose expression changed from disturbed to annoyed at the statement.

"I'm not the one who freaked when we found out Riku was gay, ya," retorted the redhead.

"Don't bring that up again," stated Tidus, "Having Selphie and Kairi kick my ass with a jump rope and a hairbrush once was enough of a lesson."

"You're still lucky they beat me to it," muttered Sora.

"Hey, Riku sent me a Christmas scroll just like he did the rest of you, so obviously we're okay now," stated the blonde boy.

"After everything Sora told us, did you actually expect Riku not to take it in stride?" questioned Selphie.

"Hey, we're close to countdown," said Penelo, glancing at her watch. "Turn on the radio."

"We should get a good view of the fireworks from here," stated Kairi as she turned to look toward the main island.

Sora smiled and wrapped an arm around Penelo's shoulders as Kairi grabbed his other hand and Wakka turned on the radio to the local station. Then he glanced up at the stars again with a smile.

Each shone brightly, the worlds unaware of how close they came to not reaching the approaching year. …And on one of them, a very dear friend shone with a light all of his own.

Riku smiled slightly but did not pull his gaze away from the night sky of Radiant Garden when Leon approached him from behind and wrapped his arms around him. The teen raised his own arms to rest over the man's slightly broader ones.

"What are you doing out here? It's freezing," commented Leon quietly.

"I was just wishing Sora a happy New Year," replied the cyan-eyed boy.

The scarred man grinned and kissed the back of the boy's head. "Think he got the message?"

"Mm-Hmm," murmured the silvered adolescent as he fingered the Griever ring he wore on a chain around his neck.

"The others are going to wonder where we disappeared to," the Gunblade wielder said quietly, still not moving away from the teenager.

"We have a few minutes," Riku responded softly before he turned in the man's arms and wrapped his own around Leon's neck. "Is Pluto still with Enkeli?"

"Yeah, Mickey said he seems pleased that we adopted one of his pups," answered Leon.

"I'm glad they were able to come," said the silver-haired boy with a soft smile.

"So am I," replied the steel-eyed man. Then he released a slight chuckle. "Minnie and Daisy are getting along with the girls really well. When I came out, they were making plans to fly back here for Tifa's baby shower."

The teenager chuckled lightly, "Donald is going to flip if Daisy gets any ideas."

The scarred man chuckled as well. "I don't even want to contemplate the tempers those er, ducklings would have."

"I don't know, his nephews seem alright," stated the adolescent.

"True," agreed Leon with a nod. "I heard Cloud say he and Zell are going to take them snowboarding before they leave. He also said something about teaching you."

The cyan-eyed teen nodded. "He swears he's much better at snowboarding than he is skateboarding."

"Let's hope so," replied the steel-eyed man. "At least you know a strong healing spell, just in case."

"…And Huey, Dewy, and Louie tend to come with a full supply of potions," remarked the teen. He grinned and tilted his head slightly; "Any chance of you joining us?"

Leon grinned and tightened his arms around the adolescent's waist. "If everything's in order here, then I might be able to be persuaded."

"I'll have to work on that later then." Riku smirked at the suddenly blank expression on Leon's face before he placed a quick kiss to the man's jaw and gently removed himself from the tight embrace, sliding one hand down one of Leon's arms to grip the Gunblade wielder's hand without ever breaking contact.

Leon smiled and took the lead as they walked back into Cid and Shera's house hand-in-hand to join their friends.

A universe apart, both Sora and Riku smiled as the New Year rang in. Each felt like they were exactly where they should be.


End file.
